Roses Are Red
by Basched
Summary: Originally posted on my live journal for Kuryakinsgirl's birthday. Ellie is given a romantic surprise. JELLIE.


_Author's Note: This was originally posted for Kuryakinsgirl for her birthday this year and put on my LJ site. I'm finally putting it up here. This is not beta'd so there's bound to be mistakes. _

_Enjoy. _

* * *

**Roses Are Red**

The envelope had been sitting on the coffee table when she came home from work. It stood propped up against a slim vase which held a single red rose. The envelope was dark red, just like the flower and on it, written in black italic pen, were the words _"Open me." _

She was puzzled, confused as to who could have left it, but she picked up the envelope and checked it over for other clues. There was nothing else, so she picked the rose from the vase, droplets of water fell on the coffee table, and she breathed in its fragrant scent as one hand broke open the seal.

Inside was a single piece of red paper, lighter in colour and the same black italic handwriting.

_"Tonight. Fountain in the courtyard, 20.00 sharp. Wear the dress!"_

Ellie looked to the clock on the cooker and realised she had only an hour until that deadline, but she smiled to herself. Putting down the note, Ellie Bartowski walked straight to her bedroom and the intrigued smirk erupted into startled shock.

The whole entirety of her room was scattered with red rose petals, roses lined the window and her dresser and on her bed was a dark blood red strapless dress. It was long, made of silk with black vine and leaves delicately embroidered along the very large slit down the side.

It was beautiful.

Excited, she rushed over to the bed and picked it up, holding the dress against her body in front of the mirror. She couldn't stop smiling as she imagined wearing it, with her hair curled and tied up with red and black laces at the back. Ellie looked down by the end of her bed and sure enough there were some red shoes that matched the dress perfectly, they even had some small black vine detail on the side.

He was planning something and Ellie was excited and frustrated at not knowing exactly what it was. Eventually realising she didn't have much time and that she still stank of sweat and hospital from her shift, Ellie laid the dress back on the bed and began to strip for her shower.

She set herself fifteen minutes for the shower, though she wished she had longer for the hot water and the soothing scent and lather of strawberry soap felt so good. Afterwards, she quickly dried her body and slipped on the dress. The silk slid and trickled over her skin and before clinging to her so perfectly that it must have been specially fitted. The dress had a slight cool touch against her warm skin and it felt wonderful. Ellie couldn't resist touching it with her hands, that was until she saw that time was getting on.

She curled her hair and finding some ribbons, she tied some in amongst the ringlets. Ellie did her make-up, light with a matching red lip-stick and then slipped on the shoes. After turning round, eyeing herself in the mirror and unable to stop grinning, Ellie noticed the time.

Two minutes to eight.

She couldn't be late, or early. 20.00 sharp, meant sharp. He was extremely insistent on precision, especially with timing. Ellie picked up two roses and strode towards her front door with an elated confidence. Her mind was twirling in chaos as to what awaited her and so when the red digital numbers finally read 20.00, she opened the door.

Her jaw dropped and the roses fell from her fingers.

The entire courtyard was doused with rose petals of dark reds, white and light pink, candles lined the fountain and all the windows and it was like something out of a dream.

Staggering over to the fountain, Ellie held one hand to her mouth and the other to her chest, to check that she was still breathing and that her heart was still working. Her heart was beating so fast it was making her head spin. Tears formed in her eyes, tears of happiness and of astounded joy that this courtyard could have been transformed so quickly.

Of course, only someone like him could have done this.

As she circled round the fountain several times in complete awe, Ellie finally spotted a red envelope sitting in the windowsill of his apartment. Ellie moved over, wiped the tears from her eyes and nervously opened the red envelope. Again there was red paper inside with black italic lettering.

_"When you're ready, you can come in." _

It was then that she noticed that the envelope also contained a key. Ellie tried to control her breathing, to sate the excitement swelling in her chest and all over her body, but the key was shaking in her hand. She had to steady herself on the door and she muttered to herself over and over again to get control.

"Stop being silly, Ellie." she said. "Get a grip!"

She did and walked inside his apartment.

The illumination of candles cast a beautiful glow over the walls of his condo and as she looked past the shadows to the stairs, she saw another trail of rose petals leading up to the next floor. Ellie smiled again and carefully holding up the long length of her dress, she began to ascend upstairs. A film of perspiration, excitement trickled from her neck down across her chest, her brow began to bead with sweat as well, dampening her hair but she dabbed lightly with her hand and came to a halt at the top.

Ellie saw that the trail of roses lead to the bedroom and whilst she was puzzled why he was leading her there now, she was excited.

Today was a special day and he was making it perfect with every single delicate petal and with every candle, her heart felt as if it would surely burst in her chest it was racing so hard, and if it did, she wouldn't care. Ellie was elated beyond anything and she had to clamp her teeth onto her bottom lip to prevent her childlike excited laughs from erupting and ruining this atmosphere.

Quietly, she walked through into his bedroom.

Ellie hadn't seen it before, but she suspected that it didn't normally look like this either.

The bed was covered just like everything else, with rose petals. The room was dowsed in it, and candles, thicker ones, provided the gentle romantic setting. On the bed there was also a basket filled with food; assorted cold meats, cheeses, salads, everything that was needed for a picnic. Ellie peered into the basket and noted two containers holding-there was a happy grumble in her stomach- two slices of cheesecake.

This was perfect. This was so romantic but there was one thing missing.

"You like?"

Ellie spun round suddenly and gasped at the glorious sight before her.

John Casey was leaning against the doorframe, dressed in a spotless black Armani suit, his white shirt open at the top by several buttons and the black tie around his neck was left draped and loose. He held in his hands, a bottle of champagne in one and two empty glasses in the other.

It took her a few long minutes of standing shocked and amazed at the handsome NSA Colonel leaning his body against the frame, before she could respond to his question.

"Oh John!" Ellie's hands cupped at her face and turned round to take in the beautiful sight once again. "I…I…I like! I very like!"

"Too much?" he asked walking over to offer one of the glasses.

"I thought it was Valentines day with all the roses." she stammered, touching at his hand as he handed her the glass. They leaned into each other and each gave a gentle kiss to their cheeks.

"If it was, I wouldn't have able to get even a third of what I've done." he joked. Ellie laughed and playfully slapped him on his chest.

"You have your connections I'm sure. I love it John. You have made the end of a long day so perfect!"

"I had planed on repelling down into the courtyard from a chopper, a real dramatic entrance, but that would be too over the top."

"Just a little."

"You like the dress?"

Ellie bobbed her head in confirmation and as John Casey opened the bottle of champagne, she could tell that he liked the dress as well. The popping of the cork and the momentary look of embarrassment on Casey's face, told Ellie that he _really_ liked the dress.

She had to hold in the laugh as he nearly over poured her champagne but he recovered expertly when he had finished filling his own glass. He put down the bottle, took hold of her free hand, and guided her over to the bed. Like a true gentleman he eased her down and began to set up some of the food.

"Did you know that I didn't want to go out?" she asked when her plate was filled with an absolute delicious array of food. Casey nodded. "So you planed this very beautiful, very romantic scene just for me? You brought me this gorgeous dress?"

"Everything is for you, Ellie. This is your day, despite that you've worked on it. A nice relaxing romantic meal, I thought a bit of music, dancing…"

"Dancing? You dance?" she joked.

"I can dance, Ellie." he smiled back at her, clinking his glass against hers. "I can dance."

"So you conveniently set all this up in the bedroom?" she quizzed. "Is there going to be more to this dancing? Do you have other plans?"

John laughed, but then his voice lowered as he sat down very close to her. His hand cupped at her cheek and brought her ear closer to his mouth.

"There could well be a special stage to this evening."

His lips brushed against her skin, his breath warm, enticing. Ellie shook and felt like completely forgoing the food and the dancing, to go straight to this special stage of his plan.

All his hard work, this tremendous effort was going to be for nothing.

John Casey didn't seem to mind as the basket fell off the side of the bed.


End file.
